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Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Over 1.6 lakh self-declaration certificates filed for food and health ads: I&B
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel More than 1.62 lakh self-declaration certificates (SDCs) have been filed by advertisers on the Broadcast Seva and Press Council of India portals since June 2024, as part of a Supreme Court-mandated initiative to curb misleading advertisements in the food and health sectors According to data shared in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan , 1,45,288 SDCs were submitted through the Press Council of India portal, and another 16,869 via the Broadcast Seva portal . This brings the total number of filings to 1,62,157 as of July 25, SDC requirement stems from a Supreme Court order dated May 7, 2024, in WP(C) No. 645 of 2022 – Indian Medical Association & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors., which directed advertisers to certify that their content, particularly in health-related sectors, is not misleading and complies with applicable response, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting enabled SDC uploads through dedicated features on both facilitate implementation, the ministry issued an advisory on July 3, 2024, making SDCs mandatory only for advertisements related to food and health products and services. This revised the earlier notification issued on June 3, which had mandated SDCs for all categories of advertisements.'In light of the directions of the Supreme Court of India, and in supersession of previous advisories dated June 3 and June 5, advertisers and advertising agencies issuing advertisements for products and services related to the food and health sectors are advised to upload an annual self-declaration certificate and make available the proof of uploading to the concerned media stakeholders,' the ministry said in its updated advisory last government clarified that while SDCs are required only for food and health categories, advertisers remain fully responsible for ensuring that every advertisement complies with all applicable laws, rules, and Murugan also reiterated that all advertisements aired on private satellite TV channels must adhere to the Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The SDC mechanism, he said, adds an additional layer of consumer protection and accountability across platforms.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
Govt drive against misleading food product ads a non-starter: RTI reply
NEW DELHI: The Centre's two key ministries and a department, which are tasked with monitoring and regulating misleading advertisements and false claims about food products, have failed to detect any such promotions in the past two years, a series of RTIs have revealed. This is despite the fact that the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), a national think tank on nutrition consisting of independent medical experts, paediatricians, and nutritionists, said they have spotted a number of such misleading advertisements on a daily basis in electronic and print media and, of late, social media, too. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which plays a crucial role in regulating and monitoring advertisements, replied in the negative in an RTI reply to a question on which food product ads they have identified as misleading between September 2023 and March 2025 under the Advertising Code (Rule 7) under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. In its reply, the I&B ministry said that, according to readily available records, no food product advertisements were identified as misleading between September 2023 and March 2025 under the rules, and so the question of taking action 'doesn't arise.' Similarly, the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution ministry was asked the same question, and their reply was 'the required information is not available.'
